Abstract
We incubated 196 large-diameter aspen (Populus tremuloides), birch (Betula papyrifera), and pine (Pinus taeda) logs on the FACE Wood Decomposition Experiment encompassing eight climatically-distinct forest sites in the United States. We sampled dead wood from these large-diameter logs after 2 to 6 y of decomposition and determined wood rot type as a continuous variable using the lignin loss/density loss ratio (L/D) and assessed wood-rotting fungal guilds using high-throughput amplicon sequencing (HTAS) of the ITS-2 marker. We found L/D values in line with a white rot dominance in all three tree species, with pine having lower L/D values than aspen and birch. Based on HTAS data, white rot fungi were the most abundant and diverse wood-rotting fungal guild, and soft rot fungi were more abundant and diverse than brown rot fungi in logs with low L/D values. For aspen and birch logs, decay type was related to the wood density at sampling. For the pine logs, decay type was associated with the balance between white and brown/soft rot fungi abundance and OTU richness. Our results demonstrate that decay type is governed by biotic and abiotic factors, which vary by tree species.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 101151 |
Journal | Fungal Ecology |
Volume | 59 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors acknowledge support provided by the U.S. Department of Energy ( 16SC503106 to USDA Forest Service ) and the National Science Foundation ( DEB 1754603 to Michigan Technological University ; DEB 1754616 to University of Minnesota ). Funding also provided by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station .
Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge support provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (16SC503106 to USDA Forest Service) and the National Science Foundation (DEB 1754603 to Michigan Technological University; DEB 1754616 to University of Minnesota). Funding also provided by the USDA Forest Service, Northern Research Station.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors
Keywords
- Brown rot
- Decay type
- FACE
- HTAS
- Metabarcoding
- Soft rot
- White rot
- Wood rot fungi